Archives for February 2018

After looking at the Full Year 2017 car brand sales ranking in Europe, let’s take a closer look at which models have sold well in 2017. The top-4 remains unchanged from 2016, with the Volkswagen Golf celebrating 10 consecutive years at the top of the ranking. The last time a different nameplate than the Golf finished in first place in Europe was in 2007 with the Peugeot 207, and before that the Opel/Vauxhall Astra in 2005 and 2006. The 207’s successor 208 is up one spot to 6th place this year, while the Astra is down 4 places to #10. [Read more…]

Overall sales in the commercial vans segment fell by 5.7% to 108,844 in the fourth quarter of 2017, while overall sales in 2017 fell by 2.7% to 449,849. While both the smallvans and large vans subsegments saw their sales decline, the drop was much larger for the former: 8.7% versus 1.4% for the latter. However, it has to be noted that the segment [Read more…]

The European passenger car market grows by 3% in 2017, to nearly 15,5 million sales, making this the fourth consecutive year of growth in Europe, and the highest volume since 2007, before the financial crisis knocked the market on its knees. However, it is the slowest rate of growth of those four years, and we’ve had 3 months of year-over-year [Read more…]

2018 began on an optimistic note, with overall sales rising by 1.2% compared to January 2017. Analysts attribute the gentle upswing to factors such as higher demand for higher incentives and optimism for the impact of the revised tax code on household incomes, though it is worth noting that January 2018 featured 25 selling days, one more than [Read more…]

After looking at the December 2017 car brand sales in Europe, let’s take a closer look at individual model sales figures. A historic moment in the top-3: behind traditional leader Volkswagen Golf, Renault manages to set 2 models onto the European monthly podium for the very first time ever with the Clio in its usual #2 spot and the Captur in a [Read more…]

Ford F-series leads in sales and growth, as the segment is on its way to beating its 2004 sales record

Sales in the large pickup segment rose by 6.8% to 642,674 in the fourth quarter of 2017, while overall sales in 2017 rose by 5.7% to 2,370,503. This means that the segment is now less than 90,000 units from the peak it reached in 2004, a high-mark that many thought would never be reached again after the segment collapsed to just a bit over [Read more…]

European sales of passenger cars in December were down for the third time in 2017, at -4,83% to nearly 1,13 million sales, even below the December 2015 figure. The major explanation for this decline is having one less working day compared to December 2016. Crossovers and SUVs bucked the trend and booked a 9,4% increase in sales to reach a record 32,9% share of the European car market, indicating this type of vehicle is on schedule to claim more than one third of the market in 2018. Sales of cars were down 10,4% to 57,5% of the market, a new low and the 6th consecutive month below 60% which had never happened before. MPV sales were down 11,8% in December to 9,6% of the market.

The segment eeks out moderate growth in 2017 as sales of new Honda Ridgeline already started declining in the second half of the year

Sales in the Pickup segment rose by 0.5% to 116,828 in the fourth quarter of 2017, while overall sales in 2017 rose by 0.9% to 452,335, a substantial climbdown for the hefty 26% growth rate the segment registered in 2016. However, things are looking up in 2018, with the imminent arrival of the eagerly-awaited Jeep Wrangler pickup and the return [Read more…]

Chevrolet Corvette leads segment decline, despite Q4’17 sales surge from Porsche 911 and Mercedes-AMG GTSales in the sports large and exotics segment returned to growth in the fourth quarter (sales up 1.2% to 13,709), although overall sales in 2017 still fell by 7.0% to 51,278. Once you exclude Chevrolet Corvette, which accounts for more than half the sales in the segment, the outlook is much more rosy, with Q4’17 growth of 20.0% and a year-on-year [Read more…]

Dodge Challenger is the only model not to lose sales as Ford Mustang’s sales drop drives segment decline

Sales in the sports mid-sized segment fell by 10.4% to 49,761 in the fourth quarter of 2017, while overall sales in 2017 fell by 13.9% to 231,161. With only one model seeing its sales rise last year it’s fair to say that the segment has seen better days, and with no new updates coming for the American big three muscle (Ford Mustang, [Read more…]